Eurovision Coaster Contest 2018

You may be aware or unaware that this week it is Eurovision Song Contest week in Europe! This yearly singing contest brings music from all over the continent in one city with songs especially written for the contest. This year, the contest is in Portugal and we decided to make our own version: with coasters! And we need you for it, so get to know some new European coasters!

You may have heard of Abba or Céline Dion who competed in the past. The contest is full of acts with fire, hairography, spectacular light shows and quite often off key singing. Yet this cheesy contest unites the countries into a unique contest that since a few years also includes Australia, as they were so eager to compete along. We made our own contest with not songs, but coasters! Our team put together a list of a nominee for each country and now we want you to vote on our Instagram account! Only the countries that have reached the final are included in this list. Let’s the Eurovision Coaster Contest begin!

Little sidetone, we excluded Alpine coaster as they are quite difficult to judge if you haven’t ridden them. Also, the coaster needs to be open at the moment!

Ukraine

The first country that will sing on Saturday is Ukraine. We already saw them in the semi-final on Thursday and it was quite a dark theme. To find a coaster for this country was not so easy, but there is one type that you can ride in several parks in the country: Hoverla. They are looping coasters which are all built by the Ukrainian company Analog. The video below was found on Youtube and fits with the cheesy theme!

Spain

For Spain, we had our own Alex who could send in his nominee. Get ready, because it is going to be quite more exciting than the Spanish duet which will be sung on Saturday. It’s currently Europe’s second highest coaster in beautiful white with a Tibet theme: Shambhala. A firm coaster that has a high chance of winning.

Slovenia

In the Eurovision Song Contest, the country sent in a quite modern song. As for coasters, it’s all Alpine… So for our Coaster Contest, they are unfortunately disqualified. Hopefully, they will be in the list some day with a decent coaster!

Lithuania

For Lithuania it is quite a slow song this year. Coasterwise, they have a SBNO Jet Star but besides that, not really something that can compete. Also here, maybe it’s time that they have a decent coaster.

Austria

Here we have again a competitor and also in the Song contest, the odds are high for this song. As for a coaster, we chose a spinning coaster called Maskerade. It is one of the two spinning coasters by Gerstlauer in Europe.

Estonia

Estonia has a very classic opera song in the singing competition. Also in this country, there aren’t many coasters, but we did find one that could compete! It is called “Ameerika Mäed” and can be found in Liikluslinn. Just watch the snippet below to judge.

Norway

This country sent a former winner of the song contest. His song is not as good as the previous one, but for some reason, people seem to like it. But we are here to judge coasters and for Norway, it is one of the three Vekoma wooden coasters! Thundercoaster can be ridden in Tusenfryd!

Portugal

This country is special for the song contest as it won last year, which means it is the host for this year. There are not many theme parks in Portugal, but there is one coaster in particular that can definitely compete. As it is usually warm in the country, it’s no surprise that it’s a water coaster! Here’s Montanha Russa!

United Kingdom

No worries, the Brexit did not exclude the UK from the competition. On the contrary, they are one of the big five which invests quite some money in the event. There are quite some coasters that could compete but this year, we selected a brand new one: Wicker Man!

Serbia

This country has a very traditional entry in the song contest. It went through to the finals but personally, I would have preferred other songs. That said, Serbia doesn’t have anything to compete when it comes to coasters.

Germany

Germany is also one of the big five countries! Their song is very similar to Ed Sheeran, even the act. So it might do very good. When we are talking about coasters, obviously Germany is a strong competitor too. It was our own German member Henri who chose the entry: Taron!

Albania

Eventhough Albania is singing in its own language, you can clearly hear a powerful voice. For the coaster, we are going to Luna Park Tirana where we hope that the coaster still exists. A little powered coaster called: Super!

Source: Screammachine.net / RCDB/ Midas van de Graaf

France

France usually sings in French and this year is no exception. The country is also one of the big five countries which is no different in the coaster kingdom. The big coasters usually aren’t that exceptional in France, but the competitor is definitely a decent one: Oziris!

Czech Republic

A very hipster and modern song is competing for Czech Republic. Much better than its coasters cause those aren’t that special. There is one that we selected which is a classic. A Zyklon Galaxi called Horská Dráha in Lunapark Praha!

Denmark

Next up is Denmark with a song about vikings. Which is not a surprise and fitting for the country. The coaster that we picked is the first Gerstlauer launched coaster ever made. Get ready for Lynet at Faarup Sommerland!

Australia

Okay, so now you might be thinking: what the helix does Australia have to do with the Eurovision? Well they wanted to compete so badly that since the 60th anniversary of the competition in 2015, they joined as a new member. That means that we have some heavy competition in coaster kingdom too! The coaster for Australia: DC Rivals!

Finland

In the act for Finland this year, the singer is going upside down on a wheel! How fitting for our contest! I have to say, it is definitely not easy to sing upside down. What a hype! Well, then we had to pick Finland’s newest inversion coaster: Hype!

Bulgaria

Bulgaria has been sending in quite some dark songs lately. In contrast with the theme park that we are going to as it is called Luna Park Sunny Beach! There is a looping coaster here called Loop Max Adrenaline.

Moldova

The act of Moldova in the singing contest is brilliant and funny. Just like its coaster, which is called Funny Slides. This coaster in Victory Park is a kiddie coaster and that’s all that there is to say about this thing.

Source: Wikipedia

Sweden

Sweden is one of the best known countries for its Eurovision. It has a huge selection process show in its own country. They have a modern upbeat song which will probably score high. We go to Liseberg for the coaster that is competing in our competition and will probably score high too: Helix!

Hungary

The entry for the song contest is basically heavy metal. A very surprising song for the competition, but it made it to the finals! When it comes to coasters, nothing special to report so too bad eventhough we are hungry for coasters here.

Israel

The song for Israel is the new “Gagnam style”. It includes chicken sounds and is called “Toy”. It has a chance of winning but we’ll see tonight. If you say coasters here, you say Vekoma. The country has both a Boomerang as an SLC. For some reason, we went for the SLC. Enjoy the shakin’ of Kumba in Superland.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands chose a rock song this year. The singer already competed a few years ago in a duet where they ended up second place. The Netherlands has quite some interesting coasters, but the one that made the competition is Lost Gravity!

Ireland

A very special song for Ireland this year. Not because of the song itself, but the act. It is two boys dancing together in a beautiful way. This was one of the reasons why China cannot broadcast the show anymore as they refused to show the dancing scenes. That aside, we have a big wooden coaster that competes for Ireland: Cú Chulainn!

Cyprus

Cyprus is my personal favorite to win this year, cause it is such an upbeat summer song! So we’ll see if I turn out to be right or not. The coaster is an old familiar for the Dutch readers. The former Looping Star/Thunderloop at Slagharen is now in Parko Paliatso Luna Park.

Source: Napa News

Italy

The final country to compete is Italy. It is the last of the big five countries and also coaster wise it has some nice ones to offer. In the end we chose for iSpeed at Mirabilandia. An Intamin that packs a punch!

So that’s the list! What is your favorite coaster? Head to our Instagram account and send us a DM based on the stories! Have fun!

Source header: Eurovision.tv

Thanks so much for reading our Eurovision Coaster Contest post! Please keep in mind, all images found on this site, unless otherwise stated, are owned by European Coaster Kings! Sharing them is fine, but only if credit to europeancoasterkings.com is given!